


Re-evaluating Puny God

by Marie_Phantom



Series: Tumbleweed (Blowing In The Wind) [9]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Hulk is a good Bro, Multi, Team as Family, Thor Is Not Stupid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-27
Updated: 2014-10-27
Packaged: 2018-02-22 19:27:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2519126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marie_Phantom/pseuds/Marie_Phantom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which the Hulk fights alongside his favourite rag-doll, and thinks about the contributions the little green God brings to the team.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Re-evaluating Puny God

**Author's Note:**

> This is the last of the second phase of my 'verse. The next story will be the start of the third and final phase. Hope you enjoy!

Never let it be said that Loki was a slacker when it came to his redemption. When he finally got the go ahead from Fury that he could fight alongside his partner and the rest of the Avengers, he threw himself into the fray, much to the annoyance of the villains who initially thought that Loki would be persuaded to fight for them. And Loki might have considered it, if only to make the fights that Avengers fought a bit more interesting, but when Doom fired a concentrated blast of acid right at Thor, he suddenly found himself hoisted into the air by his cloak, an enraged Loki blue and with cold steaming from his skin.

Doom spent months in hospital fighting off frostbite. He was lucky to keep all of his fingers.

Loki did not confess his fleeting thoughts to the others, but instead fought harder than ever, in an effort to redeem himself in his own eyes for his mental transgressions.

So his days consisted of fighting alongside his new teammates (and his friends) and spending the nights next to Thor, allowing himself to be taken apart by large, gentle hands. 

For the first time in his life, he felt safe and at home.

Of course, he still had his enemies, and when the groups gathered together in the evenings, he made sure that there was the maximum amount of people between him and Bruce, who saw this and mentally (and possibly physically) pouted. He longed to have a proper chat with Loki, ask about his magic and possibly run a few tests.

But whenever the group would gather, to get to the main area they had to pass where the Hulk had literally put Loki through the floor. Tony had covered the gaps with glass, to make a little walk way, and every time Loki would pass one he would grimace and scoot over to the other side of Thor. Thor had, in a private moment with Tony, approved him keeping the holes visible. He felt that it made Loki humble.

So they fought, and feasted, and Loki felt that he could happily spend the rest of his days avoiding Bruce.

Right up until he couldn't.

It was a bad fight, requiring all of the Avengers. Even Bucky, who was still being treated for his tortures and brain-washing at the hands of H.Y.D.R.A. But he had stolen out of the building, stealing a sniper rifle from Tony's lab, and had positioned himself on the roof in the centre of the fight, picking off people and making the Avenger's job just that little bit easier.

Doom had got above his notice again, and had sent in his Bots to try and 'neaten up' some of the rougher streets in the downtown areas of the Bronx. Unfortunately, a homeless shelter and a halfway house for young teenagers had been hit, and Steve had re-directed Loki from the fight to try and save people, and if that was not possible, pull out bodies.

Loki had pulled out a lot of bodies, of both old and young people. He was feeling slightly mutinous.

When a Bot came behind him, guns blazing, he had whirled around, his eyes and hands on fire and a snarl twisting his lips, baring his fangs in rage.

"Die." He gritted out through his teeth, and the metal of the Bot grew red-hot. The Bot screeched, but the metal burned and burned, eventually becoming white. The it started to melt, and the concrete bubbled under the intense head. 

"Whoa." He heard Clint in his ear, and he grinned. He presented a truly wondrous and frightening picture, arms burning to his elbow, his eyes white hot with flames licking the lids, and his teeth needle sharp and enlarged, like fangs on a vampire.

"My brother is known as the God of Fire. It is nice to see him utilise this." Thor said, flying overhead. From where Loki was standing, the spread of his fire infiltrated the Bots nearby, and there was a frantic hurrying as they tried to get away. But the minute Loki's fire touched their metal bodies, they were doomed. More and more melted, and those that didn't were taken out by the rest of the Avengers.

"This is both freaky and great to watch." Tony said as he whizzed overhead.

"I reckon that this is his version of Steve's punching bags." Bucky commentated, and Steve snorted down the line with laughter as his shield pinged off of another Bot and ricocheted back into his hand.

"So how come he is Frosty by nature, yet he can turn himself into the human furnace in a second? Doesn't he melt?" Tony asked. Thor laughed.

"I believe," Loki gritted out between his teeth, "that I might have been able to do this my whole life, Jötunn nature notwithstanding."

"It's cool." Natasha said. Up in the sky, Thor nodded.

The heat coming from Loki was so powerful, that by the time he was finished and back to his normal self, the road he had been standing on had turned into a tar pool, which was bubbling around his legs without actually touching him. He shook himself and looked with disdain at the road, waving a hand over the liquid and quickly cooling it back into solid concrete. It was misshapen and uneven, and the workers who came the next say to sort it out nearly wept at the damage.

Loki suddenly gasped a deep breath and closed his eyes, exhausted.

"A good job, Loki." Thor said over the comms. "Wait there and I will get you."

"There is no need, I can get to the Tower in my own way." Loki said, shaking out his arms and preparing to teleport.

"Nay, stay there. You must be exhausted."

Loki was about to nod when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned slowly and saw the Hulk come around the corner.

Loki's breath left his chest and he felt his body freeze.

The Hulk saw Loki and his eyes lit up, starting to grin awfully. He recognised Loki from his time at the Tower, and whenever Loki had looked Bruce directly in the eye (which wasn't that often), Bruce had felt the Hulk in his chest rumble in sadistic pleasure at the fear in those green or red eyes.

"YOU." The Hulk said and swaggered over to where Loki was standing frozen.

Loki used the rest of his disappeared courage to try not to whimper. It didn't even occur to him to try and run.

The Hulk rolled his shoulders and dropped the wreckage of the Doom-Bot that he had been smashing when he had come around the corner. He walked over to where Loki stood, looking at the puddles of rapidly cooling metal around Loki and the expanse in which the puddles were. The Hulk didn't need a comms unit to communicate, but he knew that Loki had managed to take out a lot.

The Hulk sniffed and grinned down at Loki, who looked up at the Hulk with a disbelieving expression on his face.

"HMMM." The Hulk said. He tilted his head and his grin widened at Loki. He put out his arm and smiled even wider when he saw Loki flinch violently.

"GOOD." The Hulk said, patting Loki on the head. "GOOD PUNY GOD."

With each pat, Loki was knocked further and further to his knees. By the end, when the Hulk had finished and wandered off, already shrinking down into Bruce, Loki was on his knees in the centre of the crater he had created, staring off in to thin air.

Thor landed nearby and went over to Loki, kneeling down next to him and patting him gently on the back.

"Is something wrong, Loki?" he asked. Loki slowly turned his head to look at Thor. His face was white with shock and his eyes were blank.

He opened his lips to speak.

"* _Wheeze_ *" was all he could say, before his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he collapsed into Thor's arms.

 

 

**************

 

 

"I know what you did." Natasha cornered Thor several weeks later, as they all milled around the communal living area. Bruce and Loki were sitting at the kitchen island, Bruce leaning over Loki, who had his hands cupped around a small flame.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Thor said, sipping from his beer. He grimaced when Natasha dug pointy elbows into his ribs. 

"Don't play dumb with me. That day, when he melted the Bots. You left him there, when I know you could have got him out in time."

Thor grinned at Natasha and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't get much past you."

"Nope." Natsha said and slumped down beside Thor. She rested her legs across his lap, making sure that he couldn't escape. "Spill."

"I knew that Loki had been wary of Bruce, every since the Incident. And I felt that Bruce did not deserve such treatment."

"So why the confrontation with the Hulk?" Natasha asked. Thor glanced at her.

"I don't believe for a single second that you cannot work out why it happen thusly."

Natasha grinned wide. "Loki needed to know that the Hulk did not see him as a bad guy anymore, and would not harm him. And through that, he would be able to speak to Bruce again as an equal, and not someone who harboured a monster who might hurt him."

Thor nodded. They both looked over to where Bruce was exclaiming in delight as the fire changed to a bubble of water in Loki's hands, and Loki was grinning in appreciation.

"This whole 'dumb-person- act you have going on." Natasha said after a while.

"Hmm?" Thor said without moving his head.

"When do you think that others are going to catch on that you're faking it?"

Thor grinned. "When I feel like telling them."

And Natasha and Thor turned back to watch the others, each with their own secrets and each perfectly willing to keep them, until such time when those secrets were no longer necessary.

For Thor, that would be sooner than he thought.


End file.
